ICE President To Trial On
Criminal Charges For Embezzlement And
Misappropriation
Pedro Pablo Quirós, as he leaves as head of
the state institution, the Instituto
Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE), but
will also be making a stop at the Segundo
Circuito Judicial de San José, in Goicoechea,
to face criminal charges related to the use
of a helicopter, paid for by ICE, for
personal use.
A judge of the Juzgado Penal de Hacienda del
Segundo Circuito Judicial de San José must
decide within the next 48 hours on a
petition by the Fiscalía to try Quirós for
embezzlement and misappropriation.
The petition was made during a preliminary
hearing held on Friday.
Pedro Pablo Quirós, president of ICE, may
be going to trial
for using company helicopter for personal
use.
It will be now up to the defense attorneys
to persuade the judge that there isn't
sufficient evidence to go to trial.
Quirós, his wife and another ICE official,
were accused on September 3, 2009, by the
Fiscalía Adjunta de Delitos Económicos,
Corrupción y Tributarios.
The charges are related to the use by Quirós,
his wife identified only by her last name,
Arias, for on March 21, 2009, using a
helicopter paid for by ICE to attend a
wedding in Zarcero and then off to Puriscal,
where Quirós said he attended a meeting.
Barboza was charged because she was the
person authorized by the ICE board to deal
with all matters related to the Cinchona
earthquake (January 8, 2009) expenditures,
authorizing the helicopter ride in March.
At first Quirós has told the press that he
had requested the use of the helicopter to
do a fly over of the earthquake zone where
ICE's Cariblanco power generating station
was hard hit and other ICE installations and
had taken the opportunity to be dropped off
in Zarcero to attend the private function.
However, it was later apparent to
investigators that the use of the helicopter
was strictly for personal reasons and masked
as an official business trip.
President-elect, Laura Chinchilla, earlier
this week announced that Quirós will not
continue as head of the state institution,
being replaced on May 8 by Eduardo Doryan,
the current head of the Caja Costarricense
de Seguro Social (CCSS).
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